The real question is - How much authority does she wield and what will she do with it?
Sometimes, people hide away their aces until the last moment, and she might very well have one up her sleeve .. like .. a direct line to one of the cassians.
Mr. Black: "Hello, Saterius? yes, this is Mr. Barclay, and I do have the shipment you wanted, but unfortunately I won't be delivering it today. You see, my Engineer is being kidnapped by one of the guard... Yes, Yes, I know, but if he doesn't release her now, I won't be visiting Nova Roma again, and neither will any of my friends..."
"Oh, of course not, but I'm not leaving without my engineer, and I'm afraid I can't let her leave the ship"
"Not that I think it will do much good, your excellency, but of course I'll let you talk to the guard, he's standing right here..."
I'm thinking that last panel where Mr. Black says, "Connie?!" signed that thug's death warrant. I think he wasn't happy before, doing that to Connie though when he gave her his word that he would protect her probably pushed him into an icy fury.
Mr. Black might not kill the lobster now, but that thug is dead man walking. And that is if Marcus can keep TeeDee from ripping him in half. Which is far from a given.
I wasn't sure.... was that the custom's agent that went postal in the last frame, or Doctor Silver?
I would kinda expect that from Dr. Silver, but the customs agent?
@Sheela
There's a churchman's name as the recipient of something on the cargo list, but she's scarcely thinking of the Church *at all* right now. There are bigger problems on her mind. :D
Think about it, Sheela. If this is allowed to continue, it won't take long before every trader on the planet refuses to *ever* go within 100 klicks of Nova Roma.
Mr. Black will make SURE that every trader on the planet knows what kind of reception they will get in Nova Roma. That would be the kiss of death for Nova Roma for sure.
Velvet and Stormwind nailed it. There are also international trade laws and customs regarding who's supposed to conduct inspections on trade vessels, and what they're allowed to do in the process. Guess what Sergeant Asshole's never bothered to learn? (BESIDES "literally every form of personal interaction aside from screaming like a huge, noisy, slobbering fartsocket".)
If this breaks out into violence, the rescue mission is blown. Tensions are already high, and suspions are higher still. The bar room brawl was bad enough, the last thing the team needs is another dust up on their resume. And with the port authority no less!
This is going to to be resolved through good old fashioned, back-channel palm greasing. This is gonna fall on Mr. Black, and my guess is it wont be cheap.
That depends on who starts the violence.
If the guards starts fighting internally, then they will be punished and officials will apologize to Mr Black.
If the custom's people start it, it'll end up as an internal affair too.
If Mr Black himself starts it, and the rest of his team don't get in on it, he might be able to get out of it due to his connections.
Heck, even Ada might get away with simply sedating Teedee and the idiot, and claim she did it to avoid real violence.
And Dr Silver might come up with some outrageous law, that would allow her to pacify whomever she damn well please with just a slap on the wrist and a fine.
But it Marcus or TeeDee starts it, they might be out of luck, bruisers that they are.
Ummm, honestly if violence ensues there will probably be a body count. If that happens, it wont matter who started it. The delay in resolving a dust up alone will kill the mission by throwing too much attention on the team.
I strongly doubt even Marcus or Teedee are fast enough to stop an alarm from being transmitted. Add to the fact the area is already on alert, any notable disturbance gets out, and its game over kids.
Im convinced the best solution here is the back-channel kind. That means Mr Black has to do the political voodoo that he do so well.
Probably true, Draginbeard. If anyone dies at least, covering that up wouldn't be likely. The team might be refused entry at best, or tossed into the gulag at worst.
Do believe that it now has gone well and truly FUBAR and Douchie's private guard will be happy to shoot first, last and to kill if anyone tries to stop them. Unless Kali or Maxus steps in.
In a totalitarian state, empire building is of paramount importance. There is almost no such thing as inter departmental cooperation. The lobsters have been stepping all over customs territory, but this threatens their autonomy, jurisdiction, and operational parameters. (They decide the rules for incoming traders and as long as everyone follows them everyone is safe and makes money) FUBAR doesn't even begin to describe where this could be headed, try open war between customs and these lobsters and the Praetorians having to be called in to resolve things (and guess who has the "LAW" on their side).
Never take someone's engineer. They tend to become mightily upset in the very dangerous to your continued existence way, and not necessarily in the direct fashion.
I'd be happy to threaten him with a 9mm JHP punch between the eyes. Just threaten, mind. Then when he goes ballistic, step aside so Teedee has room to play.
I had to write the dialogue for Sergeant Asshole and do the layout without punching my keyboard and mouse and monitor repeatedly. This was not, repeat not, a task for the faint of heart, let me tell you. :D (I swear, half our antagonistic characters wind up nicer than they should be simply because otherwise, I'd be demanding they suffer spontaneous human combustion on the same page they first appear so I didn't have to keep writing for them.)
LOL, I gotta hand it you, Rose. I don't know if anyone else noticed or not, but Sgt Asshole had a different slur for connie in every frame. you never repeated yourself. over 3 full strips, that takes talent!
Ah but Rose, just make them androids, that way you can combust them on the first page, and then reload them in another, even more combustable, new body on the next page .. and then repeat the process. :D
I feel like the best way to have circumvented this situation was to have someone hiding on the ship with a syringe full of LSD waiting for inspector-asshole, then make him trip out of his mind and get fired.
Or maybe it's just that I haven't slept well in a week that makes me think that
Well, there "IS" someone hiding on the ship. Maybe not with a syringe but he could be a sleep inducer, especially since red rover isn't wearing his helmet. (wouldn't that be a uniform violation?)
I actually disagree with you on that one, Velvet. I can't imagine connie wishing harm to anyone, not even those that hurt her... Just that they would stop.
I'm not sure Connie is THAT nice, DLK. Back on Speed of thought - 11 August 2013, Connie seemed ready to dish out some lumps against Aurelia (the Bimbo bigot of Roma).
I don't think Connie wants anyone DEAD. Some bumps and bruises inflicted on bigots won't bother her very much. In fact on Not done yet 14 August 2013, Connie liked what Doctor Silver had done to Aurelia (dumping her on her over-sculptured butt), though it felt weird to her. :-)
Should be entertaining. :)
Oh and the sub-text should be (in my opinion) - Oh SHIT! Not, "Oh boy".
Sometimes, people hide away their aces until the last moment, and she might very well have one up her sleeve .. like .. a direct line to one of the cassians.
Seriously, I really want to see Mr Blacks response. We figured Teedees out already! lol
Mr. Black: "Hello, Saterius? yes, this is Mr. Barclay, and I do have the shipment you wanted, but unfortunately I won't be delivering it today. You see, my Engineer is being kidnapped by one of the guard... Yes, Yes, I know, but if he doesn't release her now, I won't be visiting Nova Roma again, and neither will any of my friends..."
"Oh, of course not, but I'm not leaving without my engineer, and I'm afraid I can't let her leave the ship"
"Not that I think it will do much good, your excellency, but of course I'll let you talk to the guard, he's standing right here..."
ie. rather than open faced violence, it'll be threats of EXTREME violence.
Ofcourse, Mr Black's team can back those threats up with actual violence, so that puts them in the vanguard. :)
Mr. Black might not kill the lobster now, but that thug is dead man walking. And that is if Marcus can keep TeeDee from ripping him in half. Which is far from a given.
Roma's trade organization should be worried.
I would kinda expect that from Dr. Silver, but the customs agent?
Yes, that's Vigiles Trebatius blowing her stack. For very, very good reasons.
And since Setorious is as creepy as a bag of scorpions, she does NOT want that to happen.
There's a churchman's name as the recipient of something on the cargo list, but she's scarcely thinking of the Church *at all* right now. There are bigger problems on her mind. :D
I take it this is something we (the readers) have not been informed of yet ?
*sage nod*
"Huge noisy slobbering fartsocket"? Certainly! ^_^
why CF is so slow?
Maybe the ISP for CF's mirror servers in your area is slow ?
This is going to to be resolved through good old fashioned, back-channel palm greasing. This is gonna fall on Mr. Black, and my guess is it wont be cheap.
If the guards starts fighting internally, then they will be punished and officials will apologize to Mr Black.
If the custom's people start it, it'll end up as an internal affair too.
If Mr Black himself starts it, and the rest of his team don't get in on it, he might be able to get out of it due to his connections.
Heck, even Ada might get away with simply sedating Teedee and the idiot, and claim she did it to avoid real violence.
And Dr Silver might come up with some outrageous law, that would allow her to pacify whomever she damn well please with just a slap on the wrist and a fine.
But it Marcus or TeeDee starts it, they might be out of luck, bruisers that they are.
I strongly doubt even Marcus or Teedee are fast enough to stop an alarm from being transmitted. Add to the fact the area is already on alert, any notable disturbance gets out, and its game over kids.
Im convinced the best solution here is the back-channel kind. That means Mr Black has to do the political voodoo that he do so well.
Explosion in four, three, two, ...
(Hopefully someone has stopped it by now... Customs lady is on the right way to do so...)
Poor Connie *hugs her*
Ooh, they should have Malati cut his rank off of his uniform with a machete. Or a chainsaw. :D (How's that for an emphatic demotion?)
Or maybe it's just that I haven't slept well in a week that makes me think that
Well, maybe Connie might ask for him to survive, just so Mr Black doesn't get in too much trouble for her sake.
I don't think Connie wants anyone DEAD. Some bumps and bruises inflicted on bigots won't bother her very much. In fact on Not done yet 14 August 2013, Connie liked what Doctor Silver had done to Aurelia (dumping her on her over-sculptured butt), though it felt weird to her. :-)